…the case against it. It’s not a new one, but we may be on the verge of seeing SCOTUS finally shut it down after decades of urban destruction.
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…the case against it. It’s not a new one, but we may be on the verge of seeing SCOTUS finally shut it down after decades of urban destruction.
Comments are closed.
I remember one of Paul Krugman’s early essays at the NYT was about rent control. (This was before he went hyper-partisan and I still read him.) He had seen an article headline in a San Francisco newspaper about a citizens group protesting at a council meeting against a resolution to fund a study. It didn’t say in the headline what kind of study it was but Krugman said he knew immediately it was about rent control because every study of it always shows that it is a mistake and renters never want to hear that.
He contacted a range of economist friends from left to right and they all said rent control was almost always a mistake. Doesn’t matter, though. Once it is in place, it is incredibly difficult to stop.
E.g., back in the late 90s NY Republican Governor Pataki had worked out a deal with legislative leaders after long and extensive political wheeling and dealing to finally end NYC rent control altogether, However, at the last second he got cold feet and went with only a modest change.